What you need to know in advertising today

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What you need to know in advertising today

chris altchek and jake horowitz

Mic

Mic.com recently announced it was, like many digital publishers, "pivoting to video."

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In the meantime, readers appear to be pivoting away from its website. At least that's what web traffic tracker comScore says.

But Mic executives say comScore's data is way off the mark. In fact, Mic argues it now reaches over 70 million people each month and that its internal numbers keep going up.

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To read more about how this a critical disagreement in digital media, click here.

In other news:

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With its latest acquisition, WPP-owned Wunderman wants to cozy up to Salesforce. The global digital agency has acquired a majority stake in marketing software integration and solutions company Pierry Inc. to boost its technology consulting expertise in the US, and prepare itself against the looming threat of consulting firms.

Marketing tech startup mParticle has raised $35 million in Series C funding. The company has raised a total of $76 million since launching in 2013.

Pinterest is launching a self-serve platform to make it easier for brands to work with influencers. The move is aimed at attracting brands of all sizes to the platform, as well as achieving scale.

Amazon is working on a pair of Alexa-enabled smart glasses, according to The Financial Times. The device looks like a pair of spectacles and uses bone conduction to allow the wearer to hear Alexa.

Amazon also accidentally sent lots of customers emails about their non-existent baby registries. The email, which Amazon said was a technical glitch, indicated that someone had made a purchase from the registry - even though many of the recipients didn't have a baby.

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Uber is facing a federal investigation for alleged bribery in five major Asian markets: Indonesia, India, China, Malaysia, and South Korea. The firm has opened an internal probe and notified US officials about suspicious-looking payments made by Indonesian staff, according to Bloomberg.

A proposed class-action lawsuit against the company also claims that the ride-hailing firm secretly overcharges passengers, but underpays drivers. The suit alleges Uber calculates the passenger fare for the slowest and longest route, but pays the driver based on a faster, cheaper route.

Patreon, the funding platform for independent media creators, has raised $60 million. The company says it has helped its 50,000 creators raise $150 million from fans.

Ex-Google CFO Patrick Pichette is joining Twitter's board, and he just tweeted for the first time. Pichette is joining Twitter's board after retiring as Google's CFO in 2015 and completing a two-year sabbatical.

Business Insider is seeking nominations for the most innovative marketing executives in the world. Submit your ideas via this anonymous survey.

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